Second Life

It’s Tuesday at Camp, day 7 - 1 week = camp days so far. Here is a overlook of day 7:

* Campers teleported to the green grass area over at D.I.D.I. Island to get a summary of today’s tasks.
* Campers played a game called Primtionary where they had to whisper > (without typing or talking) to make us guess the word using only prims.
* Review on campers venture ideas.
* Campers were given their first card of the action plan to gather camper ideas and to feedback to all.
* Campers had to play a job and it was up to them to figure out who does what etc
* Campers built their many visual representations/models/sculptures that represents what DIDI means to them as the DIDI ‘08 Campers. All team members had to put input on the *idea*.
* The plan for above: the first thing they needed was to get together as a group and make a plan, then they had to figure out who is going to do what (who will build, what will be built, finally who will take notes/snaps, who will present)
* Campers moved to the workshop room for part 2 of today which was to to sit down and talk about some points about ventures and review of the last task
* Campers played a game called to make one sentence that makes sense lol

Yay, week 2 has started with many exciting things lined up for this week. Week two means its business time!. Campers over the weekend planned and was told to think about their missions then to send it to Meghan GKID today/this week. Remember this means that campers if the most points on this mission earn an extra iPod Raffle ticket :)

One of the things i love about Global Kids and D.I.D.I. system is that they talk about the guidelines that people should follow, campers really like this way i think. 1) one mic - makign sure everyone has a chance to share, 2) participation - you are all doing it! and 3) safe space- you are disagreeing respectfully.

* FRIDAY Fun Fest today
* No work today
* Campers had 20 minutes to build the craziest and wildest camp tent they could
* Campers had to Review their tents and why they built them
* Campers told many scary storys to us all
* Final Results of the contest we played today for the contest

End of week 1- Awesome start and I think everyone has enjoyed our first week at this camp!

* Started later today because of the downtime of log-ins and database work that LL was doing around 10am SLTish
* Campers played a game doing different strategies and they had to think about what the challenges are and goals - http://costoflife.org
* Review of the game
* Thinking about camper ventures
* Sharing ideas
* Coming up tomorrow for the 5th day of camp there will be a Tent Contest around a campfire, but which? - Campers need to come up with scary stories. this really sounds cool
* End of day 4 at camp

Day 2 was exciting with many activities and games getting the campers to come up with ideas for many topics.

Day 2:

* Meet and greet inside D.I.D.I. Institute - South wing
* Talking about ideas for summer camp themes
* Quick introduction from the campers and adults, saying what they like doing during the summer time
* Reviewing day 1 of the 3 global kids guidelines: Safe Space, Participate and One Mic
* Why the guidelines were created
* Campers had discuss concerns and community problems
* Connecting ideas using the magic ball system
* Campers had 10 minutes to Look at the green posters in the conference room and pick one, then review it to the rest of the group
* Campers learnt more about the D.I.D.I. organization and about Global Kids
* Fun activity at the D.I.D.I Pods about coming up with ideas for a selection panel, they were split into 2 teams: Blue and Red teams
* Campers had to present their rough plan to the rest of the group at a prep selection panel
* End of day 2

Today, was the start of the new Summer Camp called D.I.D.I Summer Camp 08, which will last for 4 weeks from july 7th to August 1st 2008. Participants will be expected to join us Monday through Friday 10 AM to 12 PM, Second Life time (PST). There were about 10 campers this year, so a nice amount i guess to win a prize at the end.

It brings back memorys from last years machinima camp, there were alot of new faces this year, only a few did it last year, so its great to take part once again.

Day 1:

* Meet and greet everyone outside the DIDI main building
* Campers got sent their camp t-shirts - you can change them to another colour (awesome)
* Introduction inside, sitting around the tables and chatting about the 3 most important GK guidelines
* Outline of this years camp including upcoming theme events etc
* We played our first camp game which was called “Have you ever….”, where campers had to think of come up with their own like this: “Have you ever….lost your car keys, first thing in the morning”. I really love this game, fun for all.
* Meet in the room next door and talk about venture ideas and world issues
* At 12pmish SLT, it was the end of day 1.

June 26th saw the premier of the latest machinima that was entirely shot within Teen Second Life and produced by the teens from the Global Kids' Virtual Video Program (VVP). The title of the machinima is "Race to Equality" and it focuses on the challenges faced by youth around the world in the pursuit of equal accessibility of education for all. The film exposes how racism relates to equal access to education.

The official premiere of the film, hosted by the teens themselves, was held at Sony's Wonder Technology Lab theater in New York City. The teens also held a Q&A following the film.

You can view the film directly and footage shot during the official premier below or directly on Youtube.

[11:01] M Linden: Well its great to be here to see all the great things you are doing in Teen Second Life
[11:01] M Linden: I'm on the east coast this week
[11:01] M Linden: Among other things I visited Global Kids
[11:01] M Linden: Its a totally awesome organization many of you probably know
[11:01] M Linden: I was inspired by what I saw
[11:02] M Linden: It was amazing to see things like the Dig Tanzania project
[11:02] M Linden: Its that kind of innovation that led me to join Linden Lab
[11:03] M Linden: Absolutely amazing work. When I was there, a class was working on an assignment in SL with folks in NYC and Chicago. It was a blast.

Blue Linden also goes on to ask him a question from a teen where he mentions his GK visit again.

A new computer I skill that I learned while on Teen Second Life is rezing which is building objects and at first I only new how to make simple things such as squares and cones but as the days progressed I started to put simple prims together in order to construct more complex shapes and figures such as trees and houses. One more thing I learned to do was script objects which I think would be useful.
One of the coolest experiences that I had with Teen Second Life was being a virtual Paleontologist because I got an idea of what is like to be a Paleontologist. It gave me a better idea on whether I want to choose it as a career when I am older.

2 things about paleontology that I did not know before are:
· The steps of preparing and preserving fossils
· You have to go through many years of training and school

About Global Kids

Global Kids, Inc. - the premier non-profit educational organization for global learning and youth development - works to ensure that urban youth have the knowledge, skills, experiences and values they need to succeed in school, participate effectively in the democratic process, and achieve leadership in their communities and on the global stage.

About OLP

The Global Kids Online Leadership Program (OLP) integrates a youth development approach and international and public policy issues into youth media programs that build digital literacy, foster substantive online dialogues, develop resources for educators, and promote civic participation.